Iowa Mechanics Lien Form

If the owner has made a written demand that you file a lawsuit to enforce your mechanic’s lien, you must file suit within 30 days of that demand or your lien rights will be lost. The lawsuit must be filed in the county where the property you worked on is located. If the total bill is below $6,500, then you can file in small claims court. If it’s more than that, you must file the lawsuit in district court. Unfortunately, the owner can assert whatever defenses it wants, including the price gauging allegation. Make sure you keep all the emails and notes, etc. you have for this job because you will probably have to use them in court. Depending on the amount of your bill, I strongly suggest finding a cheap local lawyer to file the lawsuit for you (unless you qualify for small claims court, in which case you can do that yourself).
 

Iowa law is unsettled whether your circumstances allow for filing a mechanic’s lien. There are cases where rejection of materials upon their delivery to a job site was sufficient to allow a mechanic’s lien, but others that say the supplier must have relinquished control of the materials to the owner or general contractor or in some cases actually installed the materials before lien rights are available. The fact that these are custom materials helps the argument that you’re entitled to a lien. So I suggest you file a lien and see if the owner challenges it – the benefit is that the owner might pay you without fighting, but your risk is the owner challenges it and the court determines your situation is not proper for a mechanic’s lien, in which case you would have to file a lawsuit. To be safe, you should file the lien before Dec. 9. Let me know if I can help further. md@brownwinick.com

If your lien has been properly posted to the mechanic’s lien registry, to foreclose on that lien you need only file a lawsuit in the county in which the property is located.